Section 1311 of the Affordable Care Act (PDF) ("Obamacare") provides, in part, as follows: Each State shall, not later than January 1, 2014, establish an American Health Benefit Exchange (referred to in this title as an...
[[ This is a…

The British media and the U.S. media have something in common: When a spontaneous event occurs and they get caught flat-footed, in a race to compete with other news organizations, they throw traditional vetting rules out the window and…

Mortgage Fraud Blog.
Susanne Helbig, 50, Roanoke, Virginia, the former majority owner of a construction company who recruited a number of strawbuyers to defraud financial institutions of millions of dollars through an intricate mortgage fraud…

Mortgage Fraud Blog.
Danny Zhao, 36, Ashburn, Virginia, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud admitting his role in a short sale mortgage fraud scheme. Zhao faces a maximum period of five years of imprisonment when he is sentenced…

Sex Offender Issues

Advocates of sex offender registry reform will gather in a peaceful protest at the Florida State House in Tallahassee FL on April 22, 2015 during the annual Lauren Book's 'Walk In My Shoes' event. The Rally in Tally is a joint collaboration…

Original Article
02/20/2015
Damages of £20,000 have been awarded to a convicted sex offender who sued Facebook, the operator of a page called Keeping our Kids Safe from Predators 2.
Facebook Ireland Limited, hosted the page, operated…

CA - Why Are So Many Sex Offenders Getting Murdered in California's Prisons?

Original Article
02/18/2015
By Seth Ferranti
In prison, there is no creature lower than a sex offender. Even snitches get a pass before these guys. SOs, chomos, pedophiles—the nicknames all mean the same thing, and they help average…

StandDown Texas Project

"Efforts to Repeal Death Penalty Begin Again With New Delaware Legislature," is by Shana O'Malley of WHYY-FM NewsWorks, via NBC Philadelphia. Supporters of ending capital punishment in Delaware are gearing up for another attempt to have a…

Slate posts, "Why Is Justin Wolfe Still in Prison?" It's by Dahlia Lithwick. A few years back, I wrote about prosecutorial misconduct in the Northern Virginia capital murder trial of Justin Wolfe. The case was one of several in the...

This infographic touches on several issues in Scott Panetti's case in a visual fashion: Earlier coverage of Scott Panetti's case begins at the link. All prior coverage is in the Scott Panetti category index. The Supreme Court established…

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held, in Riley v. California, that law enforcement officers must get a warrant before searching cellular or wireless telephones seized from persons under arrest. Riley actually involved two cases.…

Per SF Gate, Loretta Smith of Glenwood, Georgia, pled guilty last Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia to taking more than $460,000 in Department of Veterans Affairs benefits. Smith was alleged to have made…

3-1-15 New Hampshire:
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — New Hampshire's legislature is once again debating measures that would ban municipalities from restricting where sex offenders can live, even as some other states are making such restrictions…

The more I rad these Lawmaker proposals, the more I think Lawmakers are stalking former sex offenders. Maybe a basis for some smart lawyer to take on these proposals in court.3-1-15 New York:
The state Senate has passed two bills, including…

Bellone Provides Status on Community Protection Act in Aftermath of Recent Court of Appeals Ruling

I think there is a MAJOR problem with statistics cited by Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone for the SORTS program:((10-2-13 Police Arrest Registered Sex Offender For Allegedly Exposing Himself To Kids On L.I.))....((2-12-13 Arrest for…

This week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to give two major speeches in Washington, DC. The first is Monday at the conference of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). The second is on Tuesday…

On Monday, February 23, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry appointed Randy Berry as the first ever Special Envoy for the Human Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Persons worldwide. Amnesty International joined other…

In 2014, Amnesty International recorded and investigated human rights abuses in 160 countries and territories worldwide*. While progress is being made in some areas, the frightening facts and figures below show that for many people the human…

Divorce Financials: The Lifestyle Analysis and the Search for Hidden Income or Asset

Tracy explains the purpose of a lifestyle analysis in a divorce case, and the process used to analyze the family’s finances. The lifestyle analysis may be used to determine how much money is required to continue living the lifestyle the…

Trust is inherent in any good business. We continuously place trust in our employees and in those with whom we do business. But that trust which is so necessary to the operation of a business is also the impetus for thieves to profit. It is…

More than ever, competent and dynamic expert witnesses are critical to winning legal cases. Even if a case doesn’t go to trial, a credible expert can be the key to settling the case for your client. I believe that an expert witness has…

Jailhouselawyer's Blog

Thursday, July 1, 2010Call For SupportThe Association of Prisoners is this generation’s attempt to give prisoners the voice we have long attempted to have heard.Many other groups and organisations exist which play a role in attempting to…

Association of Prisoners - National Campaign LaunchBy Ben GunnWednesday, June 30, 2010We all know that dealing with PSHQ is task for the unwitting and dim-witted. They are a slippery bunch at the best of times. But PSHQ has been causing the…

Simple Justice

The integrity of public functions isn’t exactly a cause easily dismissed. After all, who out there wants to openly champion the idea that the government need have no integrity, because it’s got the guns and, well, you…

When it comes to criminal law, nothing is more important than the language of a statute. From the due process perspective, a law must give notice of what it prohibits. Not just, “well, everybody knows what it means” from…

Starting today, I will be contributing posts on “the business, practice and culture of law in addition to anything else he damn well pleases” at Lee Pacchia’s Mimesis Law. For those who haven’t paid any attention…

Federal Crimes Blog

“Government self-interest corrupted a crime-fighting tool into an evil”

The Washington Post on September 18, 2014 released the following: “By John Yoder and Brad Cates John Yoder was director of the Justice Department’s Asset Forfeiture Office from 1983 to 1985. Brad Cates was the director of the…

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on August 26, 2014 released the following: “KANSAS CITY, MO—Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Kansas City, Mo., man was…

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on August 26, 2014 released the following: “Williamsport Resident Charged with Health Care Fraud The United States Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that a criminal…

New York Menacing Crimes: Does a Threatening Photograph Displaying a Weapon Violate NY PL 120.14

There are many violent crimes in the New York Penal Law that may not be considered felonies, but are extremely serious crimes nonetheless. Menacing in the Second Degree, New York Penal Law 120.14(1), is one such crime. Right or wrong, better…

New York Forgery &amp; Forged Instrument Crimes: Is Creating Your Own Fake Check a Crime

Whether prosecuted as a felony or misdemeanor, the crimes of Forgery and Criminal Possession of a Forged instrument are offenses in the New York Penal Law that carry significant terms of jail and imprisonment ranging from one year in jail to…

New York Martin Act: Does NY Gen. Bus. Law 352 &amp; Related Sections Require an Intent to Defraud

The Martin Act, New York General Business Law 352 and related subsections, is the hammer in a prosecutor’s toolbox to investigate and prosecute securities fraud in New York State. The New York State Legislature passed this “blue…

Border budget may top a billion; local enmity rising over DPS poaching veteran police

The Texas Department of Public Safety this morning told the the House Appropriations Committee that it would like to stage six additional cadet classes in the coming biennium for "lateral hires" who previously worked for a local law…

Not only should Texas legalize pot, says a state legislator from East Texas, it should forego any special tax-and-regulate regimen and simply allow pot to be sold and taxed like any other agricultural commodity.Longview state Rep. David…

Texas House freshman Matt Rinaldi has filed a bold and inevitably controversial bill, HB 1168, which creates a defense to charges of resisting arrest, search, and detention if the underlying search or detention was "unlawful."So resisting…

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:OYEZ OYEZ OYEZ, THE FLORIDA LEGISLATURE IS NOW IN SESSION .....Today begins the annual migration to Tallahassee for the 160 elected legislators, (120 in the House and 40 in the Senate) as the two chambers decide how many…

March is a month of comings and goings. Coming: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who will be addressing a joint session of congress. Going: Attorney General Eric Holder. A PERFECT TIME:If you are a long time Miami…

Miami, really all of Florida, is lucky to be served by a crusading and muckraking newspaper like the Miami Herald. And today, the Herald has really outdone itself again. The Herald broke this shocking story, which we are sure has all of…

Daniel A. Horwitz has posted The First 48: Ending the Use of Categorically Unconstitutional Investigative Holds in Violation of County of Riverside v. McLaughlin (45 U. MEM L. REV. __ (Spring 2015 Forthcoming)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:…

in criminal law and procedure ejournals are here. The usual disclaimers apply. RankDownloadsPaper Title 1 1,285 Bill C-51 Backgrounder #1: The New Advocating or Promoting Terrorism Offence Kent Roach and Craig Forcese University of Toronto -…

Issue summary is from ScotusBlog, which also links to papers: Monday Ohio v. Clark: (1) Whether an individual's obligation to report suspected child abuse makes that individual an agent of law enforcement for purposes of the Confrontation…

As reported in this CNN piece, for "the second time, a Georgia woman's execution has been postponed -- this time because of concerns about the drugs to be used." Here is why: Kelly Renee Gissendaner was scheduled to die at...

In recent years, a number of state courts have struck down local sex-offender residency restrictions on a number of different legal grounds. As this AP article reports, another state Supreme Court is now part of this group: "California's…

&quot;A Slow Motion Lynching? The War on Drugs, Mass Incarceration, Doing Kimbrough Justice, and a Response to Two Third Circuit Judges&quot;

The provocative title of this post is the provocative title of this new article authored by US District Judge Mark Bennett now available via SSRN. Here is the abstract: A federal district court judge who has sentenced more than 4000...

FourthAmendment.com

A new format of this website opened before midnight, April 14th. If you are here, please update your bookmark to go to www.FourthAmendment.com. Everything is there, going back to 2006.
I'd been thinking about a new format, but the cost of…

OR: No RS for frisk; defendant made no furtive movements and asked why the need for a search

The officer lacked reasonable suspicion that defendant was armed to justify a frisk. Defendant, inter alia, made no furtive movements, and asked why the officers had to search him and his demeanor changed when it came up. Nothing here…

Boston Sexual Abuse Lawyer Blog

The YWCA of Western Massachusetts has received a substantial grant to fight domestic violence and sexual abuse.
The nearly $1 million dollar grant comes from the U.S. Department of Justice. It will be distributed over a three year…

The Boston Globe reports that a Boston Uber driver was indicted on charges that he allegedly kidnapped and raped a female passenger in December, according to authorities.
Alejandro Done, 46, is charged with kidnapping, three counts of…

A Revere man has been sentenced to 2½ years in jail after being convicted of raping a 12-year-old Leominster girl in 2012. Eduardo Varanda was ordered in Worcester Superior Court to serve two years, with the balance suspended for five…

Library Announcement: Online Access to Temporary Commission on Revision of New York Penal Law and Criminal Code (1961-1970) Papers Held by Library

The New York Supreme Court Criminal Term Library (New York County) is pleased to announce a major enhancement regarding access to those Temporary Commission on Revision of New York Penal Law and Criminal Code (1961-1970) papers held by the…

Summary Summaryposted by Steve Statsinger at Second Circuit Blog This is hot off the presses - today, in a summary order, the court held that the Fair Sentencing Act is not retroactive, since it "contains no express statement that it is…

Vivian Vosburg of Polk County, Florida was arrested Friday after she allegedly beat two boys, news sources report. Vosburg, 30, was booked into the Polk County Jail on four counts of child neglect and two counts of child abuse with bodily…

Jean Annis of Big Coppitt Key, Florida was arrested this past week for allegedly shoved her former girlfriend out of a moving vehicle, news sources report. Information regarding the victim's identity was not immediately available following…

Charlie Ware, a licensed Hollywood, Florida acupuncturist and acupoint injection therapist, was arrested Tuesday after he was accused of administering questionable injections to as many a dozen patients, some of whom suffered ill-side…

Evolution Of The Republican Party Or Why Democrats Need To Tune In And Turn Out

What does it mean that your typical Republican does not believe in global warming or evolution, but does believe that Christianity should be established as this country's national religion? According to a recent Public Policy…

Rudy Giuliani is a mean-spirited hack who long ago gave up any right to appear in polite society, much less be the driver of a news cycle. But there he was, speaking at a fundraiser for a fellow traveler, Wisconsin Governor Scott…

What do you do if you’re a District Attorney running an office that is under fire for prosecutorial misconduct and in the middle of a hearing (in which current and former prosecutors contradicted each other, themselves, and the…

There are two types of advocates of revenge-porn criminalization: there are those who actually propose and try to defend unconstitutional statutes, and those who dispense with First Amendment objections with a wave of a hand, but don’t…

Crime and Consequences

Are you in favor of the system of stern federal sentencing that has helped reduce crime to levels not seen since the Baby Boomers were in grade school?If so, you're not merely mistaken, misguided or uninformed. You're in bed with...

Today the Supreme Court heard argument in Ohio v. Clark. The Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment limits the use of out-of-court statements of people who do not testify as witnesses in the criminal trial, but exactly where that…

AK May Adopt Cell Phone Locator Law: The Arkansas House has passed a bill that would allow police to locate a cell phone in an emergency. Max Brantley of the Arkansas Times reports that the measure was introduced by Rep....

Kansas Defenders

Lydia Krebs and Samuel Schirer won in State v. Smith-Parker, No. 105,918 (Kan. Dec. 24, 2014), obtaining a new trial in a Wyandotte County first-degree murder prosecution. The case actually involves two different incidents that were…

Washburn student intern Ashley Green and I won in State v. Greathouse, No. 110,344 (Kan. App. Nov. 26, 2014)(unpublished), reversing an Atchison County making a false writing conviction. The state alleged that Mr. Greathouse attempted…

Patrick H. Dunn won in State v. Martinez, No. 110,186 (Kan. App. Nov. 21, 2014), obtaining a new sentencing hearing in a Sedgwick County failure to register prosecution. The issue had to do with how to classify violations of Wichita…

In the recent case of Commonwealth v. Walter Crayton, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court established a new standard for the admission at trial of an in-court identification of the defendant where the witness had not, prior to trial,…

The Massachusetts Appeals Court recently suppressed evidence in a case that was seized as a result from an arrest by Boston Police based on mistaken information. In the case of Commonwealth v. Maingrette, the Appeals Court ruled that…

Juveniles May Be Required To Register as ‘Sex Offenders’ in Massachusett

In a case decide today, in L.L., a Juvenile v. Commonwealth, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rules on the standard a juvenile court judge determines the risk of re-offense on the part of a juvenile who committed a ‘sex…

Super Bowl 49 is here and will be player February 1, 2015 in Glendale, AZ. If you do go to the game or are partying in downtown Phoenix this weekend at the Super Bowl Central please don’t drive if you have been drinking. The Phoenix,…

Super Bowl 49 is scheduled to take place on February 1, 2015 in Glendale, AZ. Glendale is located on the west side of the Phoenix-metro area. The Super Bowl has long been one of the most popular sporting events in the world for many years.…

The Waste Management Phoenix Open 2015 edition will be held again at the TPC of Scottsdale. The actual tournament runs from Thursday January 29th to Sunday February 1st (which is also Super Bowl 49). There are tournament related activities…

In our post-Guidelines world, we’re all for district courts having “great latitude . . . in choosing a sentence.” Except when the court varies upwards, doubles the guideline range, and doubles the joint…

“No limitation* shall be placed on the information concerning the background, character, and conduct of a person convicted of an offense which a court of the United States may receive and consider for the purpose of…

Co-blogger Solomon Wisenberg's post on today's Supreme Court decision in Yates v. United States highlights the plurality opinion that focuses on a straight statutory interpretation analysis. But there is an interesting and important note in…

The U.S. Supreme Court has rendered its opinion in Yates v. United States. A fish is still a fish, but it is not a tangible object under 18 U.S.C. Section 1519, which was passed as part of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act....

The Kroll Report on UT-Austin and the Limits of Internal Investigation

Any internal white collar invesitgation is limited by the nature and scope of the investigation and the power of the entity conducting it. And those are just the tangible, objective limiting factors. Are you reporting to the Audit Committee…

The Briefcase

Big news from
SCOTUS. Not really. The Potamac Nine did come down with a
decision in a criminal case, Fernandez v.
California. The Highly Abbreviated
Version of What Went Down: the cops
arrested Fernandez at his home,…

I do a lot of appeals -- over 150, my BFF Lexis tells me --
and I'm constantly amazed at how much I still learn. I've had two recent epiphanies. The first is that the best time to start
practicing for oral argument is just before…

Every trial is a story.
The prosecution has a story. The
defense has a story. Oftentimes, the
defense story is nothing more than that the prosecution hasn't proved their story beyond a reasonable doubt.
The prosecution's…

I'll post commentary later. The commentary will essentially mirror the response I made to Julien Blanc's lawyer. (This letter is so poorly drafted that it may be a hoax. I've reached out to Peter Coffin and Attorney Greg Smith for…

"This, sadly, was not always the dichotomy — his blog, going back to 2004 as a law student, paints the picture of a far tamer, more reasonable man, interested in cases of authority figures abusing their stations, and where justice was…

Swatting has been in the news a lot recently. Swatting results when a prank caller (or often someone who does not approve of your political activities and wants to censor you) calls 9-1-1, telling the dispather than there is an emergency. Due…

In its first decision of the 2013-2014 season the Supreme Court reversed a finding by the Ninth Circuit that an officer was not protected by qualified immunity for entering a residence in hot pursuit. When La Mesa, California police officer…

In its first decision of the 2013-2014 season the Supreme Court reversed a finding by the Ninth Circuit that an officer was not protected by qualified immunity for entering a residence in hot pursuit. When La Mesa, California police officer…

Probably the most important criminal case decided by the Supreme Court this year was Maryland v. King. The Supreme Court upheld the taking of a DNA sample from a person arrested for a felony. It found that the taking of a DNA sample…

The Justice Blog

50 Years Later: Attorney General Holder Reflects on President Kennedy’s Legacy

The blog appears courtesy of Attorney General Eric Holder Fifty years ago today, in Dallas, the life of the 35th President of the United States was ended by an assassin’s bullet. Like nearly all Americans who were alive on that terrible…

Since 2011, the Access to Justice Initiative (ATJ) has partnered with the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Tribal Services to host a series of tribal court trainings known as the Tribal Court Trial…

Understanding the Impact of Children’s Exposure to Violence in American Indian/Alaska Native Communitie

The following post appears courtesy of Assistant Attorney General Karol Mason Yesterday, at the White House Tribal Nations Conference, Attorney General Eric Holder announced the first public hearing of a new task force to examine the impact…

Owners and/or operators of adult daycare centers in New York City should be advised of the necessity of reviewing their patient recruitment practices so as to avoid running into accusations of Medicaid fraud and other charges. In view of the…

Grace Case

This week, both the U.S. Government and Defense counsel for W.R. Grace and individual defendents layed out their case in opening statements. EPA On-Site Coordinator Paul Peronard was introduced, examinedÂ and cross-exaimined after Molloy…

LIBBY (May 10, 2009) — The environmental criminal inquiry into the most sprawling industrial disaster in U.S. history ended in the failed prosecution of a company charged with poisoning a small Montana town. Some residents of the town say…

HGN test ruled in admissible by the Kansas Supreme Court during DUI trial

The Kansas Supreme Court recently issued a decision dismissing one of the most controversial pieces of evidence used in an OUI trial - the horizontal gaze nystagmus test (HGN). Finding no evidence to support the reliability of HGN test...

New Jersey Legislature to vote on Bill requiring interlocking ignition devices for all DUI conviction

New Jersey legislators are voting on a bill that would require the installation of an ignition interlock device for all drivers convicted of a DUI. If enacted, this bill would require all drivers operating a motor vehicle within a period...

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has just issued a decision establishing a single definition of reasonable doubt, the standard by which jurors are to find the defendant guilty of a crime. The decision, published and released under the…

JOTWELL - The Journal of Things We Like (Lots)

Edited by University of Miami School of Law Professor Michael Froomkin, The Journal of Things We Like (Lots)–JOTWELL–invites law professors to join us in filling a telling gap in legal scholarship by creating a space where legal academics will go to identify, celebrate, and discuss the best new legal scholarship.

So Who, at the End of the Day, Owns Google (or Apple, or Microsoft, or Pfizer…)?

Chris William Sanchirico, As American as Apple Inc.: International Tax and Ownership Nationality, 68 Tax. L. Rev. __ (forthcoming), available at SSRN.Omri MarianAs I was sitting down to draft this review of Chris Sanchirico’s paper, I…

Gavin Wright, Sharing the Prize: The Economics of the Civil Rights Revolution in the American South (2013).Christopher SchmidtQuantitative scholars too often seem intent on sucking the complexities and nuances out of history. Sometimes,…

Included below are my introductory remarks delivered at the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Law Libraries on July 23, 2012 as part Program E-1 State Advocacy Strategies: Learning to Connect, Grow and Survive. The material below…

Included below are my introductory remarks delivered at the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Law Libraries on July 23, 2012 as part Program E-1 State Advocacy Strategies: Learning to Connect, Grow and Survive. The material below…

The people at The Jury Expert are excited about moving to a new platrorm, Wordpress, where they can incorporate a new look and possibly some new features as well. Below is their e-mail announcing the change and providing links so you can see…

Why Waiting Until the Last Minute to Hire a Criminal Lawyer is Not a Good Idea

Not unlike most Sundays I woke up yesterday to several find messages on my cell phone from perspective clients who are in need of criminal legal representation in court today. Someone needed a lawyer for a domestic assault and battery case…

At least once a week a potential client will come into my office to discuss a pending case and conclude the conversation by asking me what guarantees I can give him. My answer is the same each time. There are no guarantees in this business.…

Motions in limine are requests brought by the parties and decided by a judge that determine what evidence might be admitted or excluded at trial. These motions are usually filed prior to trial or on the day of trial however they can be…

Innocence Blog

The legal blog of theInnocence Project founded in 1992 by Barry C. Scheck and Peter J. Neufeld at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University to assist prisoners who could be proven innocent through DNA testing.

In light of recent allegations of corruption and abuse by six Philadelphia narcotics officers, District Attorney Seth Williams will throw out more than 300 drug-related cases, according to First Assistant District Attorney Ed McCann. The…

In an article discussing Attorney General Eric Holder's recent call for a death penalty moratorium -which was based in part on the risk of executing the innocent - the Atlanta Black Star writes about the Equal Justice Initiative's (EJI) new…

Groups from Both Sides of the Political Spectrum Seek to Reform the System

Criminal justice advocates from both sides of the political spectrum have formed a coalition to work together to fix the system. The Coalition for Public Safety, which includes such diverse partners as the American Civil Liberties Union and…

Douglas Hubert was on parole and living with his grandfather when his grandfather called Hubert's parole officer to report that Hubert had violated numerous conditions of his parole, including possessing a firearm. Hubert's parole officer…